The Onslow County Farmers Market opens today, and starting this week it will include a location at Camp Lejeune.

That market will be open near the Camp Lejeune Commissary on Tuesdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from April 15 through Aug. 26. Tim McCurry, community plans and liaison officer for Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River, said that though it is not part of a formal program, the market is serving as a pilot for other military bases to open their doors to local farmers markets.

McCurry said the market’s opening is a process that took two years and was held up primarily due to an aspect of the Armed Forced Code that establishes the commissary as a source of fresh produce for members of the military. McCurry said some interpreted the code as making the commissary as the only source for produce; but in a memo sent from the Deputy Commandant of Installation and Logistics, which oversees logistical policy for all Marine Corps Bases, it was determined that the code did not prohibit other sources of fresh produce, including farmers markets.

According to McCurry, having a farmers market on the base will give those living within the gates the opportunity to access local produce and give local farmers an opportunity to sell to a broader base of consumers.

“We recognize farm land is compatible with our mission in the military,” McCurry said. “We fly over farm land and forestry since there are fewer people there and we don’t get as many noise complaints than if we flew over housing developments. We like to fly low and under dark skies.

“We want to be a good neighbor and preserve that farmland.”

The manager of the farmers market, Jordanna Musard, is overseeing the new market aboard Camp Lejeune, said that market will be similar to the one at the Jacksonville Commons Recreation Center in that it will be an outdoor market with no permanent shelter area. According to Musard, the excitement on the base is high.

“This is an opportunity for people on the base to get fresh fruits and vegetables,” Musard said. “It’s part of the local food movement. People want to know where their food is coming from.”

Larry Kent, who serves as an adviser for the Farmers Market Association, said the market on the base will not use any county funded equipment since the county’s Farmers Market Association is completely self-sustaining. According to Kent, a state and county employee through the Cooperative Extension as a program assistant, the organization is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) that gets all of its funding from membership fees, fees for booth space, sponsorships and fundraisers, including its annual raffle, which usually occurs at the organization’s Summer Fest in June. Kent says the association plans on holding a raffle again this year, but a defined date hasn’t been set as of yet.

Page 2 of 2 - The main Farmers Market, which opens today at 8:30 a.m., has a permanent building located at the Onslow County Multipurpose Complex at 4024 Richlands Highway. The building itself was constructed, in part, using funds from the county in 2004. Kent said, though, that all upkeep for the building, including electricity and heat, are paid by the association.

Vendors must pay an annual fee of $50 as well as $15 fee for renting a 12 foot by 12 foot space in the Farmer’s Market building. A space half that size costs $8 per day. At the main site, tables and chairs are provided by the Farmers Market Association.

Kent said resources for booths at the outdoor Farmers Market at the Jacksonville Commons Recreation Center and on the grounds aboard Lejeune are provided solely by the vendors. Those vendors pay a $10 fee per day.

Christopher Thomas is a staff writer for the Daily News. To contact him, send an e-mail to christopher.thomas@jdnews.com.